Storage Virtualization: A Register survival guide

You want it, you need it, we got it

By Austin Modine, 24th October 2007

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

Your bedside clock flickers 2:48 AM. You're still awake. Covered in a thin sheen of sweat, you heave yourself from your mattress and head for the window. Fresh air. That's all you need.

The distant ebb and flow of traffic breaks the tomb-like silence of your bedroom. You close your eyes. It sounds like the ocean — or — no! You must stop thinking of the data center.

But you can't. Storage virtualization.

The words flutter through the headlines of technology publications, but more importantly, your mind. Especially on nights like these. Her siren song beckons you. Promises of infrastructure consolidation. Cost savings and energy savings based on better resource utilization! Can such things really be true?

And is it wise to steer into unknown waters? Perhaps if there was someone you could talk to. Your boss? No, she would know less about storage virtualization than you do now. Your neighbor? No, he is not to be trusted. Never again!

Then you remember.

The Register is presenting a series of whitepapers on storage virtualization, produced by the analysts at Freeform Dynamics, our lovely research partner. And the first is out now! A webcast too? Could this be a dream?

Maniacally, you open the free document and see they provide a straightforward primer to answer your burning questions.